The first seven days were spent in Minneapolis at #bossbabefestMSP. I told you a little about this here, and I’ll tell you a little more about it soon. Then I flew home, and as soon as I landed I hit the pavement running.

I catered an event for forty for a local start-up company. I shot a big spread for Feast Magazine. It’s coming out in September. I really love this one! I’ll share it with you when it goes to print. And then, I prepared a meal for thirty in an orchard.

Eckert’s, a local farm that I have worked with in the past on my pop-ups asked me to come out to their orchard and put on a dinner for thirty local chefs and food influencers. I wanted to say no and go hide under a rock, but I said yes anyways. I knew right away what I wanted the table to look like.

Simple, white, pops of color, mostly peach. And then quite quickly the menu took shape by utilizing what their land had to offer. I planned a five course menu in my regular plant-based style, and asked Julia {friend/STL blogger/food styling goddess} to come and make some of her killer short ribs to go with my polenta. She obliged, and the night was pure magic.

For the guests, the night started out with peach chamomile spritzes, a wagon ride through the farm, picking corn in the fields and eating it straight off the cob. Then a meal set between their orchard and vineyard. And full of chilled summer soup, peach and tomato salad, fresh sweet corn polenta, Julia’s short ribs, goat cheese cheesecake with hibiscus blackberries and plenty of local beer.

For me and Julia, we ran around like crazy people trying to pull off a very put together facade and chill vibe. Fact though, we had no chill. But, I do think we actually pulled it off. Maybe?

My favorite dish of the evening was this chilled summer soup. Raw, vegan, blended marinated sungold tomatoes that tasted like candy, sweet corn fresh of the cob from the field I was standing in and yellow bell peppers to bring some earthiness to the bowl. Topped with a fresh, bright, herby cucumber salad for a little crunch and acid and umami.

This soup is a chop, set, blend, strain, chill situation. And really the set and strain are kind of optional. Any blender will do, but a really great one is key, which is why I’m so excited about today’s giveaway!

Wolf Gourmet has been so generous to send me a new high performance blender. And has been even more generous to gift another to one of you. This piece of equipment is a beast and undoubtedly my most favorite thing I own right now. Green smoothies and chilled summer soups for days you guys.

To win a high performance blender of your own, check it out here and let me know what color you want in the comments below. I will choose a winner at random on August 10 at noon Central, and notify them by email. Sorry folks, the blender can only be sent to a United States shipping address.

Chilled Summer Soup

Adapted from The Endless Meal. The color of this soup depends on the shades of the produce you use. I've had this turn out quite pale, and in this case bright yellow. If you want to deepen the color, you could use an orange bell pepper instead of a yellow one. I used sungold cherry tomatoes, but any yellow/orange tomato variety will work.

Prep Time 30minutes

Cook Time 5minutes

Total Time 35minutes

Servings 6small bowls

Ingredients

3ears sweet corn

3cupssungold tomatoeshalved {see notes, approx. 1 1/2 pounds}

1cupyellow bell pepperdiced medium

1/2cupwhite oniondiced medium

1/4cuphighest quality olive oil

2tablespoonsraw apple cider vinegar

1/2teaspoonsea saltmore to taste

1/4teaspoonblack peppermore to taste

Instructions

Shuck the corn, and discard the husks. Shave off the kernels and milk the cob. You milk the cob running the back end of your blade down the cob to remove the yummy bits and juice remaining. Place the kernels and milked bits into a large mixing bowl. Then add the remaining ingredients to that. Combine well and allow the mixture to sit for about 30 minutes.

In a high performance blender {or in a regular blender, but in small batches} blend the soup until completely smooth. Run the soup through a fine mesh sieve and refrigerate for 4 hours.

Divide the soup into bowls and serve with the cucumber salad, a drizzle of EVOO and pinch of black pepper on top.

Oh, Sherrie, this soup! That gorgeous, vibrant yellow. All those summer ingredients are made that much better with the addition of the cucumber salad. Brilliant! I think I’ve just found my new go-to summer soup. Thank you! And wow, what a giveaway. Yes, please! My first choice would be Wolf’s iconic red knob. But I’m sure I’d love it in any color.

How I wish to rhapsodize about thee? Oh beautiful blender! Now, I’m sure you’re use to lascivious glances, lingering touches and inspiring tied-tongues. I can’t say you won’t receive such treatment in my kitchen, but I do so solemnly swear you shall be treated like the natural wonder that you are.

You’ve gotta be prepared though, you will, indeed, be the main attraction — my kitchen and appliances are pretty old, grumpy and generally temperamental. For instance, my last newest addition was a coffee maker that hisses, burps, grumbles and possesses a hot plate that doesn’t get hot — he’s pretty grim, all in all. So be prepared for lots of gawking and jealousy. And lastly is this, I don’t have a blender. You’re not replacing anything, yep, you heard me. No blender. So I’m gonna blender you till I’m all blendered out and then we’ll blend some more. Truthfully, you’ll probably need a vacation by the end of week two and wished you’d gone home to one of these other lovely contestants.

That’s the long and short of it, Wolf. Hope to see you around these parts some day, my door is always open. Feel free to drop by anytime you want.

(Okay, I got that out of my system. Heh. Thank you for the stellar recipes Sherrie, they make my home a happy one. And congrats to one of these lovely contestants and their new blender :D No, seriously. I think this blender is worth more than my car? This one is going up on my vision board for sure. Also, stainless steel — come to mama!)

That chilled soup sounds absolutely amazing right now in our Florida heat. I love the vibrant yellow color and the addition of the salad on top. It’s almost too beautiful to eat. Thank you for the chance at winning the Wolf Blender. Black would be my first choice.

Sherrie, the orchard dinner is the most romantic thing i’ve seen in such a while. I can only imagine how cosmic the night really was, and I adore your passion and dedication to crafting fresh and flavorful food. The components of this soup are all of my swoons, not to mention how delicate and reflective of the season the color is. Incredible love for this/you.

Dear Sherrie, I’ve been so hoping to see some pics and hear a bit about your pop-ups and to see some of what you created for this chefs dinner is amazing! Thank you! And thank you for the yummy soup recipe! I can’t wait to try it. I’ve been making blended roasted tomato soups with broth and coconut cream and then chilling them. There is nothing better than a summer soup! If I were to win a blender – I would love the all stainless steel. Thank you so for the delicious beauty you bring into the world!

Be still my sweet, orchard loving heart! This looks like it was a dream to attend, Sherrie! I know you were probably running around with your hair standing on end, but my goodness, what a total treat. Can’t wait to see more from your get together with all those stellar gals, and I sincerely hope to make it out to one of your dinners one day.

What a fun giveaway! Can’t go wrong with silver. I love this recipe. I don’t usually gravitate toward chilled soups but something about that amazing color and the perfect little cucumber salad really speaks to me. And by “speaks to me” I mean wishing with all my might I could dive right into that picture with my soup spoon! Will definitely be giving this recipe a whirl this week. Thanks!!

Popped in because your soup looked delicious and found myself in the middle of a giveaway. Cool! Stainless steel would be my preference. And a question, must we use blenders or can we also use food processors for that final step?

Hi Lanie, this recipe requires a blender to get it real smooth. I’m not sure a food processor {meant to dice/chop finely, not blend} would be adequate enough. You could try though, but be sure to run it through a fine sieve prior to chilling and serving.

And here I thought you only displayed delicious food on a gorgeous feed, but you blog too!? Like blog, blog!? Should’ve known! I’ll be checking back for recipes for sure. Thanks for offering this giveaway, my blender recently broke and I was just telling my husband that we needed to research the best. The review on their wolf gourmet blender sounds incredible! I love the black one, but something draws me back to that pretty red knob. Thanks for hosting this!

I am still dreaming about this soup. Seriously, one of the best things I’ve tasted in a long time. Gah, it was so creamy and lovely. So grateful that I was able to be at this incredible evening. You are so talented, love that you have delved into the pop-up world. I’m super happy that this won’t be my last dinner of yours! We just gave our kitchen a makeover and I think a stainless steel one would look perfect on the new counters!

Sherrie! This meal sounds incredible. My goodness you are an inspiration! I would have seriously thought about the comfort of a rock too! Feeling a little ho-hum about being canadian, but what a n awesome giveaway! Loving everything you’re doing these days, chilled summer soup included! x